Sansui 500A Vacuum Tube Receiver check over

[@Monitoring_Everything]

Long live Sansui. I used to have everything from the 221 right up to the 881. I have a 7070 right now sounds nice and a 1000A that needs servicing

[@professorvoluck9311]

I have a 661 and a 1000x. The 1000x I’ve fallen in love with.

[@Zimmy_1981]

awesome! i always wanted at least 1 piece of Sansui gear. Maybe 1 day...

[@douglashoff95]

15 watts per channel can do a lot with a pair of Klipschhorns or Altec A7's. And I'd bet this tube amp would sound absolutely GREAT with them.

[@tacofortgens3471]

Evem Heresy 4s , I run a 25 watt amp loud enough for me

[@jennifersuedelgado]

I love today's surround sound units that really give that theater sound experience. BUT!!! There is nothing like playing some vinyl on a vintage stereo unit like this. When I was a kid my dad had a Pioneer SX 880. I love the sound, the look, the soft light glow when the unit is on. I purchased an SX880 a few years ago on ebay and it is awesome.

[@Barbarapape]

This Sansui harks back to an era where quality mattered unlike the junk they churn out today that requires a major dismantling to access the broken parts. If the post ever settles the strike, and the customer is willing to pay this will be another great receiver saved from the recycling.

[@12voltvids]

If they don't settle soon the government will order them back to work.

[@Barbarapape]

@@12voltvids Here in the UK Royal mail always go on strike just before Christmas this must be a worlwide problem with postal workers. Perhaps thery don't like having to deliver cards and presents.

[@Zimmy_1981]

they have it nice! Where I live they'd be fired & replaced in no time!

[@12voltvids]

Can't fire them. Union. In a legal strike position. You are talking to a unionist. I fully support their cause because without unions you would be working for 2 bucks an hour.

[@Zimmy_1981]

@@12voltvids that;s great, really. Where I live, the treat workerslike slaves more often than not & gov't doesn't give a hoot. I support unions also, I am glad they care so much for workers. Ouch 2 bucks per hour? that is insane. These companies really fail to realise that the workers bring in their income and keeps the company afloat

[@joelima201]

This is my first introduction to learning all about tube hi-fi. Bought this same 500A at A&B Sound in the used department for $30 in 1979. Got this receiver home , found out after a while , some output tubes were going into Chernobyl melt down. Some time went by , and I started learn more about electronics to find out all the coupling caps had leakage . Over time, I replaced all the caps , did a full tuner alignment , and still have it to this day. Anytime I see Suzuki oil caps , they get replaced . These old Sansui tube amps sound great , this is what Sansui specialized in was the transformers. Can't wait for part 2 .

[@12voltvids]

The transformers are what makes the sound. One of the best sounding amps i have heard is a Chinese boutique amp called yaqun. (Pronounced yachin). They wind their own iron in house using oxygen free copper. They also mount the power and output transformers on opposite axis to reduce satauation influence between the power and output transformers. Everything is done in house and it shows in the sound quality.

[@richardbrobeck2384]

Great Video and Sansui made some nice gear my one only tube reciever is Harmon Kardon !

[@mrnmrn1]

Those 0.3uF coupling caps have MP written on them, so they are paper (metallised paper). The grey oil filled ones are also problematic, I had them in my Leader LBO-508 scope and they shorted. The white axial ones are probably also paper. I would do a full recap on this. Maybe the main filters can stay. This looks to be low hour, just very old. Even the dial lights are probably original, based on the presence of the green one. The black spot on the side of the output tubes is not neccessarily a sign of wear, some tubes have those spots from the factory, probably from the cathode activation process - no, I'm not confusing them with getter. Cathode evaporation from wear shows up on the bottom of the tube around the base, and on the top below the getter, but that is harder to differentiate from the getter itself. In earlier stages of wear it first shows up as grey circles on the mica sheets around the cathode.

[@12voltvids]

Yip oil soaked paper. Basically the same as wax caps. Turn into resistors.

[@mrnmrn1]

@12voltvids The oil filled ones go bad because they're not hermetically sealed. There're hermetically sealed variants with glass bead feed-through leads in a metal box that's soldered shut, or tubular ceramic ones with metal end caps soldered shut. Those very rarely fail, I have some from the '50s operated at high voltages and still no excessive leakage (they are used as coupling caps in an oscilloscope's deflection circuits, so any leakage current would show up immediately).

[@shodan6401]

To my recollection, the Sansui 1000A was the most powerful Tube Receiver ever made, at a whopping 40wpc. By comparison, my more modest H.H. Scott 340B, like the top Fisher Tube Receivers, is rated for 30wpc. This makes the Sansui utterly unique amongst classic receivers of the era, and worth collecting.

[@12voltvids]

They claimed this but that was the way they measured it and the "acceptable' distortion numbers. My Mac for example is rated 30wpc at .12%. The 1000 40wps at 2%. If i drive my Mac to 40wpc it can do it with 2 % distortion too. Lol. They both use the same output tubes. My yaquin is 45wpc using el34 tubes.

[@m9ovich785]

Thanks Dave. I can always tell You have the Left/Right connections correct and You switch back & forth. Stereo separation on My end is pretty good... Long live Sansui, I lost the 4000 That my Father bought new in 1970/71 or so from My House fire. The Sony TC366 and the German PE Turntable was in a safe place at the time. I should look to see if I can find a replacement, Won't be the same thoo as having His... Mike M.

[@markmarkofkane8167]

That's great if it can be repaired. Very interesting and informative.

[@12voltvids]

This is an easy one. Anything that deals with tubes is easy.

[@jasonhandy8442]

That looks beautiful that machine probably a headache to fix but it does look fantastic especially inside quality of sound is what you need not not high wattage👍👍

[@12voltvids]

Back when these were new they were not considered a high end unit. Entry level at best.

[@fadhlematrook1248]

i love any old school equepments

[@MrChrisRP]

Fancy purple bass pic. Yes I noticed. Rock on!

[@rickoneill4343]

Lol was waiting to see when you would see that X

[@12voltvids]

I mentioned it but that segment was cut out. One of the other tubes has an x as well.

[@CameraTim-DAMMITDOTcom]

So how do you dispose of toxic components? (Those caps.) Here, in Australia, I don't think anything but a big company would have a way to dispose of such things properly. While we do have places for dropping off electronic waste, they only want whole items, not parts. Since they don't give us any other option, it's tempting to stuff an old chassis with random dead parts.

[@tacofortgens3471]

Would be nice running it as a preamp

[@chetpomeroy1399]

This Sansui receiver came off of the assembly line just before the beginning of the hard-won dominance of the world markets by superior-quality Japanese electronics and automobiles. Their quality control and pride in workmanship were *unmatched* by their languishing competitors, who basically produced third-rate junk in comparison.

[@MrChrisRP]

You know how people make fun of others, calling them a "crash test dummy?" Well, if there is a candidate for namecalling lol perhaps try, "you're THE dim bulb tester."

[@shodan6401]

Both the 500A and 1000A are notorious for being absolutely chuck full of cheap, leaky caps throughout. They all are guaranteed to be out of spec or just plain resistors at this point. A few dozen caps compared to the American counterparts.

[@12voltvids]

My parents were correct when they always said that Japanese stuff was cheap crap in the 60s.

[@MrChrisRP]

I have an idea for you, that you can actually make a whole gang of videos about. Before I say it, I will first say that I know how it is when you're a real worker getting stuff done. No doubt about it. I get that. But perhaps pimp out your work area to be clean and setup as professional as reasonable. Even if it gets messy over time, at least you will have a baseline to go back to. It's the big picture overall that's in my mindset. In any case, keep it loud.

[@12voltvids]

I don't really care how the bench looks. When i am not doing any work I am not on the shop. I have so much tape archiving work to do I spend most of the day running tape machines.

[@MrChrisRP]

@@12voltvids Glad to hear the operation is-a rollin' strong.

[@MrChrisRP]

500A @ 120V, man that's a 60 kW amp. Spinal Tap could probably use it to go to 11... ok, ok time to watch.

[@hongjinglaoshou]

早期的机器，电路如蜂巢一样。

[@WoM-o1v]

I mean 10 bucks in parts ok. Shipping 30 noooo thank you.

[@davids8449]

Valves old chap

[@12voltvids]

Electron tube or vacuum tube on this side of the pond.

[@onlymeok]

Wet finger. 💀

[@12voltvids]

Dry finger great. It will straighten your hair if DC and curl your hair at 60 curls per inch for AC (50 in Europe)

[@wendellporter4875]

i have the sansui 800 from 1965

[@WoM-o1v]

What? 30 dollars for shipping? Are they normal? In Poland shipping costs around 2 to five six dollars max. Around the whole country. It's sick to pay 120 zl which is equivalent of 30 bucks in our money. Let's say cost of parts 10 bucks, jajks how much? Noo i'll go to my local store.

[@12voltvids]

USA very expensive shipping plus with Canada Post out on strike the big 3, FedEx ups and DHL are sticking it to us. Plus they charge fees of about 37.50 to import plus the taxes of course. Ordered 2 switches that were 1.50 each and it was 33.00 usd to get them. That translates to about 45 Canadian which I was happy to pass along and mark it up to 50 for my trouble.